Blake Griffin’s fist was balled, his face as auburn as the curly high-top fade that sits atop it. The words trailing the saliva shooting out of his mouth suggested that Andre Drummond had ticked him off.

Seconds before, as the Pistons were in the midst of what would become a Feb. 22 dogfight on the road against the Hawks, head coach Dwane Casey signaled for a play to get Griffin, his six-time All-Star, a bucket. Griffin elected to call an audible. He saw Drummond isolated on the block with Atlanta’s Dewayne Dedmon, who already had two fouls, and begged for his frontcourt mate to go at him. Instead, Drummond chose a distant, turnaround jump-hook. The shot smacked the iron.

Griffin chewed Drummond out. Drummond took it on the chin.

“He tiptoed around him, and I got into him,” Griffin said of the interaction. “I really let him know.”

The next possession, Drummond got the ball on the block. A power dribble and …...